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Pros And Cons Of Retinitis Pigmenstosa

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Visual imparity is one of the biggest epidemics in the modern world affecting an estimated 285 million people worldwide (WHO, 2014). Of theses 285 million people, roughly 39 million of them are completely blind. Blindness is a ‘debilitating sensory impairment’ according to Lorach(2014), which can limit a person’s ability to perform everyday tasks and can hugely affect their quality of life. Most of the diseases causing visual impairments, such as cataract can be surgically treated. However, some pathologies cannot be treated with existing treatments or medications. Retinitis pigmenstosa (RP) is an example of such pathology. RP is an inherited eye disorder in which light-receiving photoreceptor cells (rods and cons) degenerate. The photoreceptor…show more content…
A visual prosthesis can create a sense of vision by electrically activating neural cells in the visual system. The Argus II device was manufactured by the American company Seconded Sight Medical Products. The device consists of a small video camera, a transmitter mounted to a pair of eye glasses, a video processing unit (VPU) and an artificial retina (the implanted 60 electrodes).The device works by converting the images captured by the camera into electronic data by the VPU. The VPU sends these signals to a wireless receiver implanted in the eye (the retinal prosthesis electrodes).The electrodes allow the electrical signals to bypass the damaged photoreceptor cells and transmit these signals directly to the brain via the ganglion. A three-year clinical trial of thirty people, aged 28 to 77 years was conducted in Europe and the USA(Ophthalmology, 2013). The aim of the trail was to evaluate the benefits of the device along with its safety and reliability. The results indicate that 89% of the subjects performed significantly better while undertaking the Visual function test
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